This is a nice, simple-to-use and easy-to-install management
information base (MIB) browser. Those of you who use Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) know how easy it can make life. The
Details tab provides information about those MIBs you might not
know a whole lot about or use often, so you can interpret the
information or make changes using the browser. Requires: libgtk,
libgdk, libgmodule, libglib, libdl, libXi, libXext, libX11, libm,
libnetsnmp, libwrap, glibc, libcrypto, libnsl.

If you need only one calendar—not one for everyone, but one
for yourself or for the office or the Web—this program is
extremely easy and quick to install. And as long as the protected/
directory is protected, you don't need to worry about someone
changing your appointments. This calendar also e-mails you the next
three days' appointments if you set up cron to run the e-mail
script. Requires: web server, Perl, cal, pscal (optional).

If you need something to keep an eye on your process table
and perform some action based on said table, you need ps-watcher.
Every day I used to have to look for errant Netscape processes and
kill them. Well, ps-watcher can do this before the system comes to
a crawl. You can base actions on percentage of CPU time used and
other parameters. Simply define the parameter in the config file
and set an action to take. You can log, kill, log and kill, and any
of a number of other actions. Requires: Perl, Perl modules
Sys::Syslog, File::Basename, Pod::Text, Config::IniFiles,
Getopt::Long.

A virtual beer is great, but a real one is undeniably better.
Well, why not go that one step further and brew your own to your
own tastes? This program comes with a tutorial for brewing real,
not virtual beer. When you find the best combination of ingredients
for a really hearty ale, pass the recipe on. Requires: libSM,
libICE, libXext, libX11, libqt-mt, libstdc++, libm, libgcc_s,
glibc, libdl, libfontconfig, libaudio, libXt, libpng, libz, libGL,
libXmu, libX render, libXft, libfreetype, libpthread,
libexpat.

—David A. Bandel

They Said It

Alas, 2003 will not be the year of the enterprise Linux
desktop; however, expect support from the large system vendors such
as Dell, HP, IBM and Sun to be on the increase for desktop Linux
(from practically nothing in 2002), as they realize that they can
sell more Linux servers if there is a viable desktop Linux.

—Aberdeen Group

By 2007, we said one year ago, “No one will be fired for
recommending Linux.” Shortening our own timeline by four years, we
suggest that an IT buyer might already be fired today for failing
to consider Linux. That's a small step but one of Neil Armstrong
caliber.

—eWeek

Linux is a large component of our five-year computing
strategy. We are investing and deploying it heavily in all areas of
our Institutional Securities business. It's currently being used
for mission-critical applications in our Equity and Fixed Income
Divisions.

—Jeffrey M. Birnbaum, Morgan Stanley's global head of
enterprise computing for the Institutional Securities
business

We're no longer locked into a development platform. If we
were going to port an application [to HP-UX], there would be some
problems. Going with Linux, we can run the application on commodity
hardware—IBM, HP or Dell—and take advantage of the benefits of
the platform.

—Bridget O'Connor, Lehman Brothers

The other thing is continuing to enable all the platforms in
the IBM family of products. When you do that, then no matter where
the customer interacts with us, Linux is a part of this
picture.

—Jim Stallings, IBM's Linux manager

Linux will not be very useful to ordinary people. It will be
more useful to companies like ours.